The MoP has released guidelines under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003 for the procurement of power on a finance-own-operate basis. The objective of these guidelines is to facilitate the procurement of power by the nodal agency on a long-term and medium-term basis through transparent bidding to meet the power requirement of a group of states with coal linkage as per Para-B(v) of the SHAKTI Policy. The medium-term procurement of electricity will be for a period of up to seven years but exceeding one year, while the long-term procurement of electricity will be for a period of 12-15 years. According to these guidelines, the date of commencement of supply under the contract will not be less than 120 days for a medium-term contract, and not less than 1,460 days for a long-term contract.